Droughts and Famines

Droughts are unusually long periods of
insufficient rainfall.

Since ancient times droughts have had far-reaching effects on humankind
by causing the failure of crops, decreasing natural vegetation, and
depleting water supplies. Livestock and wildlife, as well as humans, die
of thirst and famine; large land areas often suffer damage from dust
storms or fire.

Famines are extreme shortages of food that
cause people to die of starvation.

Where: Egypt

When: 1200-02

The Egyptian people relied on the annual flooding of the Nile River
to leave soil for growing crops. After a shortage of rain, however, the
Nile didn't rise. People were unable to grow food and began to starve to
death. The final death toll was 110,000, due to starvation, cannibalism,
and disease.

Where: Ireland

When: 1845-49

Potatoes were the mainstay of the Irish diet. When the crop was
struck by a potato blight (a fungus that killed the crop), farmers and
their families began to starve. The grain and livestock raised in
Ireland were owned by the English, and the laws of the time prevented
the Irish people from importing grain to eat. This combination of plant
disease and politics resulted in the Great Potato Famine, which killed
1.5 million people and caused a million more to move to America.

Where: The Great Plains of the U.S.

When: 1930s

The U.S. experienced its longest drought of the twentieth century.
Peak periods were 1930, 1934, 1936, 1939, and 1940. During 1934, dry
regions stretched solidly from New York and Pennsylvania across the
Great Plains to the California coast. A great “dust bowl” covered 50
million acres in the south central plains during the winter of
1935–1936. Heavy winds caused the dry soil to be blown into huge clouds.
Crops and pasture lands were ruined by the harsh dust storms, which also
proved a severe health hazard.

Where: Northern China

When: 1959-61

The world's deadliest famine killed an estimated 30 million people
in China. Drought was followed by crop failure, which was followed by
starvation, disease, and cannibalism. News of the famine was not
revealed to the rest of the world until 1981, some 20 years later.

Where: Biafra, Africa (present-day Nigeria)

When: 1967-69

As a result of civil war, famine conditions killed an estimated 1
million people and left another 3.5 million suffering from extreme
malnutrition.

Where: Europe

When: 2003

Drought conditions and a heat wave, one of the worst in 150 years,
broke temperature records from London to Portugal, fueled forest fires,
ruined crops, and caused thousands of deaths. (French fatalities
estimated at more than 14,000.)